Hamburger Bake

Hamburger Bake - made August 10, 2012 from The Cinnamon Roll Murder by Joanne Fluke

For real cooks, this dish would barely be a half step above Hamburger Helper.  But this was just my cooking speed (don't judge).  I checked out this book, the latest in Joanne Fluke's Hannah Swensen culinary mystery series, from the library and in the context of the story, this is a dish that Michelle, Hannah's sister, threw together with random ingredients from Hannah's kitchen at the last minute.  I, being a complete non-cook, had to put together a grocery list to buy what I needed for this since these ingredients don't "just happen to be" in my kitchen.  Just the butter, flour, baking powder and salt.  Everything else had to be planned for and purchased ahead of time.  I took the liberty of using ground turkey breast instead of ground beef, both to cut down on the grease and because I prefer ground turkey over beef in taste and texture anyway.

This is essentially a pasta-less Hamburger Helper on top of biscuit dough.  Probably something I would've made when I was in college since my cooking skills are about the same now as they were back then.  And occasionally I have the palate of a picky 7-year-old so it's hard to go wrong with something cheesy and bready.  Although, in my defense, I made this after a week of having salad greens (no dressing) with my grilled salmon.  No sense in eating totally healthy for too long; I might not recognize myself.  But this is a very filling dish because of the biscuit layer so I think it might be a better candidate for a potluck if you need to feed the masses.  I didn't mind the top layer but if I make this again, I'd probably skip the biscuit layer and make noodles to go with it instead.

Filling

1 pound lean ground beef (I used ground turkey breast)

¾ cup chopped onion

1 10 ¾-ounce can condensed Cheddar cheese soup

1 cup frozen vegetables (I used frozen corn)

¼ cup whole milk

Crust

½ cup butter

¾ cup whole milk

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, scooped and leveled

2 ½ teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

Topping

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1.     Preheat oven to 400°F.  Line a 9 x 13 inch pan with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray.

2.     Make the filling: Crumble the lean ground beef into a 10-inch or larger frying pan.  Add the chopped onion.  Fry the meat and onion over medium heat on the stovetop until the ground beef is nicely browned.  Drain off the fat.

3.     Add the condensed soup, frozen vegetables and the ¼ cup milk to the ground beef and onions.  Stir well.  Cover the frying pan and set the mixture aside.

4.     Put ½ cup butter in a microwave-safe bowl.  Add the ¾ cup whole milk and heat on high for 1 minute.  Stir.  If the butter isn’t completely melted, heat for another 30 seconds and stir.  Continue to heat in 30-second increments until butter is melted.  Cool mixture slightly.

5.     Make the crust: Measure out half the flour into a mixing bowl.  Add the baking powder and salt.  Add the remaining half of the flour and stir with a fork until all of the dry ingredients are thoroughly combined.

6.     Add the butter and milk mixture to the mixing bowl, and mix until the resulting dough is well moistened.

7.     Spoon the dough into the bottom of the prepared pan in an even layer.  Spread the ground beef mixture as evenly as possible over the dough.  Sprinkle the cheddar cheese over the top of the hamburger layer.

8.     Bake for 30 minutes then let cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes before serving. 

Crème Bruleed Chocolate Cake

Crème Bruleed Chocolate Cake - made August 11, 2012, recipes adapted from Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan & Julia Child and Cupcakes by Martha Stewart

Bruleed the bananas on top of the custard but custard melted from the heat

"If you're afraid of butter, use cream."  Your average foodie, chef and baker know those famous words were uttered by the incomparable Julia Child who brought the art of French cooking to the American kitchen and palate. In a roundabout way, I owe this blog to Julia Child because it was watching the movie, Julie & Julia, that finally spurred me to start blogging almost 3 years ago.  So in honor of her birthday on August 15, I'm giving a French twist to the classic American chocolate cake by making this Creme Bruleed Chocolate Cake - a chocolate cake "shell" filled with vanilla bean custard; I added sliced bananas to top the custard and bruleed them to crackly goodness.  A version of this confection is in the Baking with Julia baking book but I went with Martha Stewart's recipe for chocolate cupcakes instead as it was also similar in using cocoa powder for the chocolate flavor and oil instead of butter.  Plus I wanted something on a smaller scale for a brulee since it doesn't have a long shelf life and is best enjoyed within minutes of being caramelized.

2nd attempt, bruleed the bananas first then placed them on top of the custard

The chocolate cake itself was pretty good and came out well.  The creme brulee custard tasted good but I don't think I cooked it over the stove top long enough since I was afraid of overcooking the egg yolks and having the custard break like the last time I tried a stovetop creme brulee.  So it didn't set like it was supposed to and I had to rely on the freezer to firm it up.  Then when I tried brulee-ing it, the custard simply melted. I'm afraid I needed the master chef herself to save my creme brulee.  However, one of her legacies that I always remember is not to be afraid of trying something.  Even if you fail, you try again.  And again.  Someday I will conquer a stovetop version of creme brulee.  It wasn't today but I'm not afraid to try it again.  Thank you for showing the way with your fearlessness and Happy Birthday, Julia Child!

Crème Brulee

¾ cup heavy cream

1 vanilla bean

5 large egg yolks, at room temperature

3 tablespoons sugar

1.      Pour the heavy cream into a medium saucepan.  Split the vanilla bean and scrape the soft, pulpy seeds into the pan, toss in the pod and stir to mix.  Bring just to the boil over low heat.

2.      Meanwhile, in a medium heatproof bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar together just to blend.  Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water and whisk, continuously and energetically, until the mixture is very pale and hot to the touch.  Remove the yolks from the heat.  Gradually but steadily whisk the cream into the yolks, pod and all.

3.      Put the bowl back over the hot water and let it sit there, with the heat turned off, whisking occasionally, for 5 to 10 minutes, until the cream thickens.  Set the bowl into a larger bowl filled with ice cubes and cold water and allow the mixture to cool, whisking now and then.  When the custard is cool to the touch, retrieve and discard the vanilla bean (or clean it and save it to flavor sugar) and push the mixture through a strainer into a clean bowl.  Cover the bowl tightly and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.  The custard can be made the day before and kept covered and refrigerated until needed.

Chocolate Cake
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

¾ cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

1 ½ cups sugar

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

¾ teaspoon baking powder

¾ teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

¾ cup buttermilk

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

¾ cup warm water

1.     Preheat oven to 350°F.  Lightly spray dessert shell pans with nonstick cooking spray.  (You can also use muffin tins but don't line with paper liners if you're going to brulee the custard.)  In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Add eggs, buttermilk, oil, vanilla and the water.  With an electric mixer on low speed, beat until smooth and combined, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.

2.     Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each about two-thirds full.  Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in the centers comes out clean, about 15 minutes.  Transfer tins to wire racks to cool 10 minutes; turn out cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely. 

3.     To finish, top with chilled custard, sprinkle with granulated sugar and torch with handheld torch until sugar is crackly and brown.  You can also add bananas on top of the custard and brulee that as the top layer instead with a sprinkling of sugar.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Thumbprints

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Thumbprints - made August 8, 2012 from Chocolate and Vanilla by Gale Gand

Here's a quick and easy cookie recipe for any peanut butter and chocolate lovers.  It might seem involved since it's got a cookie dough and a filling but both are easy to put together.  The dough is great to work with (not too soft or sticky) and doesn't spread much, even if you only chill it for 30 minutes before baking, which is what I did.  Toast the peanuts first before you chop them to get a bit more flavor.  To make the indentations in the ball of cookie dough, contrary to the name of the cookie, I didn't actually use my thumb.  Instead, I used a 1/2 teaspoon to press a nicely rounded indentation in the middle.  You can make a deep impression but it will flatten a bit when the cookies bake; however all you need to do is press the 1/2 teaspoon gently in the middle again to make the indentation more pronounced.  If you don't plan to bake the cookies right away and would rather freeze them for later, make the indentations in the dough balls first before freezing them.  Then you don't have to worry about "thumbprinting" the cookies when they're frozen balls of dough and not apt to take kindly to indentations.

Make the filling while the first batch of cookies are baking.  The filling does set as it cools so it's better to have it a bit warm when filling the cookies.  It did lose its sheen and have more of a matte finish which might not look as pretty but it still tastes the same.  I don't know that I'd call these a particular favorite but it's a nice option if you want a nice-looking cookie that's a bit different than the norm.  You can also play with the flavors.  If you don't like peanut butter or peanuts, leave off rolling the cookie dough balls in the chopped peanuts and make them plain then fill with nutella, caramel, plain melted chocolate, jam or anything else you prefer.

Cookies

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

½ cup packed light brown sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons milk

¼ cup semisweet chocolate chips, chopped

¼ cup chopped roasted salted peanuts

Filling

¾ cup semisweet chocolate chips

2 tablespoons peanut butter

2 tablespoons corn syrup

1 tablespoon water

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1.      Preheat the oven to 375˚F.

2.     Cookies: In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Add the brown sugar and vanilla and mix on medium-low speed. Mix in the flour and salt, then add the milk and chocolate chips and mix until combined.

3.     Using your hands, roll pieces of dough into 1 ½” balls and dip the top of the balls in the chopped peanuts.  Place peanut-side up 1 ½” apart on a cookie sheet.  Push 1/2 teaspoon measuring spoon in the middle of each cookie to make a deep impression.

4.     Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes or until they’re light golden brown.  Let cool on the cookie sheet while you make the filling.

5.     Filling: Melt the chocolate chips in a medium bowl set over (but not touching) a saucepan of simmering water.  Stir in the peanut butter, corn syrup, 1 tablespoon water, and the vanilla until combined.  Let cool for 5 minutes.  Using a spoon, fill the centers of the cookies with the filling.  Let sit for 30 minutes to set.

911 Chocolate Emergency Cookies

911 Chocolate Emergency Cookies - made August 6, 2012 from Sticks and Scones by Diane Mott Davidson

One of my worst habits is leaving books lying around.  Some of which I'm in the middle of reading so I want them accessible, others I'm moving from one bookcase to another in the vain hope of trying to find room to fit them all and when I can't, they lie wherever I last had them before I got distracted by something else (squirrel!!).  Sometimes I'm also flipping through a book and a recipe catches my eye that I plan to make "someday" so I put a marker on the page (I never dog-ear a book's pages, that's sacrilege) then I put the book on my "look at me first for some reason" shelf.  Such is the case with this recipe.  It's from an old Diane Mott Davidson culinary mystery book in her Goldy Bear series (that's the name of the caterer character - really) and I must've been in a chocolate mood when I first read it because I put a bookmark on the page, put it on the aforementioned shelf then forgot about it for awhile.

I finally got to it though and made these cookies.  I made them the normal cookie way that's advocated in the book, although I did leave off the vanilla frosting listed with it.  But because the dough was soft, I also made them in little square muffin tins (my brownie bites pan) and put half a Cadbury Milk Chocolate Caramel (still going through my stash from Europe) in the middle.  I baked the brownie bites pan a little longer than the recipe called for had I been baking them as regular cookies so they really did come out more like mini brownies than cookies.  Still tasted good though.  The ones baked as cookies were a bit like baked fudge or very fudgy cookies.  Make them small as they're a bit rich but if you like chocolate, these'll satisfy any kind of chocolate craving you have.

6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened and divided

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa, sifted

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

¾ cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed

¾ cup granulated sugar

3 large eggs

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

1.     In the top of a double boiler, melt the chips, chopped chocolate and 4 tablespoons butter, whisking smooth.  When melted, set aside to cool briefly.

2.     Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.

3.     In a large mixing bowl, beat the remaining 4 tablespoons butter with the sugars.  When the mixture is the consistency of wet sand, add the eggs and vanilla.  Mix in the slightly cooled chocolate mixture, beating only until combined.  Stir in the flour mixture, mixing only until no traces of flour appear.

4.     Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 25 minutes, until the mixture can be easily spooned up with an ice cream scoop.  Don’t overchill it or it’ll become hard to scoop. After scooping into dough balls, freeze until firm in the freezer (30 minutes or more) or chill for at least an hour in the refrigerator.

5.     When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°F.  Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

6.     Place the dough balls evenly spaced on the cookie sheets and bake for 9-11 minutes, just until the cookies have puffed and flattened. Do not overbake; the cookies will firm up upon cooling.  Allow the cookies to cool 2 minutes on the cookie sheet, then transfer them to racks and allow to cool completely.

Linked to Sweet Treats Thursday

 

Grilled Salmon

Grilled Salmon - made August 1, 2012 from Mel's Kitchen Cafe blog

This is my occasional, obligatory "throw 'em off with a real-food recipe" post.  I received one of my favorite gifts for my birthday, namely an amazon gift certificate. which burned a hole in my email inbox until I spent it on a new Zojirushi indoor electric grill.  Although I don't really cook much, I've been wanting an electric grill for awhile because a) I'm hoping that would make me miraculously cook more, b) the grill would magically turn out really good food despite my lack of cooking skills, c) an indoor electric grill is much easier to clean and cook with than an outdoor grill but mostly d) because one of my neighbors keeps grilling the most delicious-smelling, mouthwatering, drool-worthy food and I was in serious gastronomic envy every time they grilled.  I don't even know what they grill but it always smells so delicious I want to track them down, show up at their door, introduce myself and see if they'd invite me in for dinner.

But rather than pathetically intruding on my neighbors, I finally pulled the trigger on getting a grill of my own and for my first test run on it, I went with this simple grilled salmon recipe I found on pinterest.  You have to click back on the recipe title to the original blog post from Mel's Kitchen Cafe because that picture looks so good.  Mine doesn't look as moist and I think the mistake I made was not holding back some of the marinade (pre-salmon soaking) and using that to baste the salmon with as I was grilling it.  Told ya I don't cook much.  Next time.  Still, this was pretty tasty and for once, I was the one filling the air with a delicious barbecue aroma.  So there, neighbors.  Enjoy with your olfactory senses while I get down to eating.

1 1/2 pounds salmon fillets
lemon pepper to taste
garlic powder to taste
salt to taste
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup vegetable oil

1. Season salmon fillets with lemon pepper, garlic powder, and salt.
2. In a small bowl, stir together soy sauce, brown sugar, water, and vegetable oil until sugar is dissolved. Place fish in a large resealable plastic bag with the soy sauce mixture, seal, and turn to coat. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
3. Preheat grill for medium heat.
4. Lightly oil grill grate. Place salmon on the preheated grill, and discard marinade. Cook salmon for 6 to 8 minutes per side, or until the fish flakes easily with a fork.

 

Snickerdoodle Blondies

Snickerdoodle Blondies - made August 4, 2012 from Mandy's Recipe Box blog

I've been trying a lot of recipes from other foodie blogs lately, thanks in large part to pinterest.  In the "old days" (aka a couple of months ago), whenever I came across a recipe I wanted to try, I used to cut and paste the url and keep in a word doc so I can find the recipe later.  Thanks to pinterest, I can now pin those recipes with abandon on a board I labeled "Baking Recipes I Want to Try" and whenever I need inspiration or want to try a new recipe, I just go back to that board and comb through whatever might strike my fancy.  Technology and innovation are wonderful things.

Usually what determines why I pin a particular recipe is either I like the picture, I'm intrigued by the recipe, it contains an ingredient I know I'll need to use up someday (buttermilk, I'm talking about you) or all of the above.  In this case, I was meeting a friend for brunch and needed something quick and easy to put together, with the added advantage of it won't melt in summer, it doesn't contain nuts (one of her kids is allergic) and I had all the ingredients on hand. So I went with this recipe from Mandy's Recipe Box blog. I like snickerdoodle blondies because they retain the goodness of a snickerdoodle cookie but are easier and faster to bake since it's just a one-pan affair.  This was so quick and easy to put together that I literally mixed up the batter and had it ready to bake just in the time it took my oven to preheat to 350 degrees.  I only made a half recipe and baked it in an 8" pan so I adjusted the ingredient amounts accordingly below.

This came out pretty well and was more moist and chewy but still a little cakey than a regular snickerdoodle cookie, probably because it was thicker than a cookie.  Although, technically, it's also not like a snickerdoodle cookie because it doesn't contain cream of tartar.  I used a new jar of Vietnamese cinnamon that I got from Sur La Table and it was taste-bud-opening the difference in taste between fresh cinnamon and the stuff I've been using from the Costco jar I bought long ago.  The one type of ingredient you don't want to buy in bulk is spices.  Buy them right before you need them, in as small a quantity as possible.  Spices lose their freshness after a short time and while you can compensate by increasing the amounts you add in the recipe, it's still better to use fresh spices.  I learned that lesson the hard way when I bought the cinnamon jar from Costco many moons ago.  I've been using it since I didn't want to waste it but now that I have a new (much smaller) jar of cinnamon, I'm tossing the big bottle and sticking with the fresher spice.

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon grated or ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1 egg, at room temperature

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

a pinch nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8 x 8" pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and set aside. 
3. In large bowl, beat together butter and brown sugar for 3-5 minutes. Add in the egg then the vanilla, and beat until smooth. 
4. Stir in the flour mixture until well blended. Spread evenly in prepared pan. Combine the granulated sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a little bowl. Evenly sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture over the top of the batter.
5. Bake 25-30 minutes or until surface springs back when gently pressed. Cool before cutting. 

   

Lemon Crinkle Cookies

Lemon Crinkle Cookies - made dough July 28, 2012, recipe adapted from The Royal Cook blog

Switching back to a "summer flavor" in the form of lemon cookies - this was the third cookie dough I made on my I'm-still-jet-lagged day.  I found it on one of my link parties and pinned it to get back to later. This follows the same idea of chocolate crinkles except it's a lemon cookie dough ball that you roll in powdered sugar before baking. I increased the flour by 1/4 cup as the dough was again a bit soft and I didn't want the cookies to spread too much.  I also increased the amount of lemon zest in the dough because I wanted to make sure the lemon cookies were, well, lemony.  Recipe below reflects my modifications.

This was a very good cookie.  It's like a cross between a lemon sugar cookie and a lemon bar in cookie form.  It didn't spread too much and it had a nice balance of sweet and tart.  I did a test cookie rolled in powdered sugar as the recipe directs and it was good but you can also roll it in granulated sugar.  Be careful not to overbake this as part of the goodness is in the moist texture of the cookie.  I liked it just slightly underbaked when the edges are barely beginning to brown and the middle is just past raw and are barely done.

½ cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 teaspoon lemon zest (or all of the zest from 1 medium to large lemon)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking powder
⅛ teaspoon baking soda
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup powdered sugar

1. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Whip in vanilla, egg, lemon zest, and juice. Scrape sides and mix again. Stir in all dry ingredients except for the powdered sugar slowly until just combined. Scrape sides of bowl and mix again briefly.  Form into dough balls and chill until firm or freeze overnight.
2. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
3. Pour powdered sugar onto a large plate. Roll cookie dough balls in powdered sugar. Place on baking sheet, evenly spaced apart.
4. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until bottoms begin to barely brown and cookies look matte {not melty or shiny}. Remove from oven and cool cookies about 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

Linked to Sweet Treats Thursday
 

Chocolate Caramel Cookies

Chocolate Caramel Cookies - made July 28, 2012, cookie recipe adapted from Cookinfood blog

The actual chocolate caramel in individual size

This is the second of three cookie recipes I tried my first day back from Europe.  One of my favorite things to buy when I travel, especially to places like Switzerland (or just about anywhere in Europe), is chocolate.  They conveniently have nice big blocks of chocolate at any airport store and when I travel for work, sometimes that's the only place I can shop.  My favorite chocolate is the Cadbury milk chocolate caramels - they're rectangular blocks of milk chocolate filled with the best liquid caramel ever.  I bought a couple of hefty packs because I knew I wanted to use them in baking.

That lump in the middle is the Cadbury chocolate caramel

For this one, I knew I wanted a dark chocolate cookie to enrobe around the Cadbury caramel chocolates - the dark chocolate cookie should be a nice complement to the sweet milk chocolate and caramel candy.  Taste-wise, I think this worked well with exactly the contrast/complement I was looking for in flavor.  However, the dough was a bit soft to work with so I think next time I'm going to try this again with a recipe that makes a more firm dough to cover the chocolate caramel with, maybe something similar to the Cocoa Kiss cookie dough.  Because the dough was so soft, I only used it to wrap around a few pieces of the Cadbury caramels.  For the rest, I added milk chocolate chips and made as normal cookies.  The original recipe called for using white chocolate chips and I think those would've been good too.  But I didn't have white chocolate chips on hand and I didn't want to take the time to chop up the bar of white chocolate I had bought in Zurich so I went with milk chocolate chips instead.  That worked too as this was a very good chocolate cookie. You can really taste the cocoa flavor so please go with a good-quality cocoa for these cookies.

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Pernigotti and Droste)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
2. Mix the butter, brown sugar, and sugar until light and fluffy in large bowl.  Add in eggs and vanilla,  mixing well.
3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt, and mix together. Then gradually pour those dry ingredients into the wet mixture above at a very slow speed –being careful not to spray or spill.  Stir in chocolate chips.
4. Form tablespoon-sized cookie dough balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet, spaced at least an inch apart. (Or you can choose to chill or freeze the dough balls for a few hours first and bake later.)
5. Bake one cookie sheet at a time for 9-10 minutes or until the middles no longer look raw or wet.  Do not overbake.  Allow to cool on wire rack.

Linked to Sweet Treats Thursday
   

Orange Cookies with Orange Glaze

Orange Cookies with Orange Glaze - made July 28, 2012, recipe adapted from Stephanie's Kitchen blog

Back to the recipes.....

After 23 hours of travel time from my hotel in Barcelona to my house, I finally made it home only to spend the weekend trying to adjust back to my local time zone.  I tried staying up so I could adjust more quickly and just ended up with some raging headaches from sleep deprivation and I still woke up at 2 am.  I love to travel but sometimes I'm not a good traveler because I can't sleep on planes and it takes me awhile to adjust to different time zones.  Nevertheless, it was good to be home and I missed baking in my kitchen so of course, sleep deprivation or not, I hit the butter, flour, sugar and eggs to start baking again.

First recipe out of the gate is this one for orange cookies from Stephanie's Kitchen blog.  I indulged shamelessly in Swiss chocolate while I was gone so I switched gears back to oranges with this recipe.  This is a good summer cookie with its citrus flavor.  I modified it slightly by increasing the flour by 1/4 cup as when I used the original amount, the dough seemed a bit too soft and I didn't want it to spread flat.  I liked the fresh orange taste of this cookie but this is one you definitely don't want to overbake or it'll easily be dry.  Err on the side of underbaking for the proper texture which is moist and almost "fudgy" had it been chocolate.  I also only used just enough orange juice to make more of a thick glaze or a frosting rather than a runny glaze.  It's the glaze that brings out the orange flavor really well.  This is not a stackable cookie unless you let the glaze set so I wouldn't recommend it for care packages or bringing anywhere really hot or else the glaze will just melt off the cookies.

I love this texture when it's just slightly underbaked

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons orange zest
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1 egg

For the glaze:

1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 tablespoon orange zest
fresh orange juice

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. 
2. In a small bowl, mix the sugar and orange zest. Rub together with your fingers until zest is throughout the sugar. The sugar will become moist from the oils being released. 
3. Using a mixer, cream the butter and orange-zested sugar. Add egg and orange juice. 
4. Slowly add the dry ingredients until well incorporated. At this point you can chill for an hour or so or overnight. 
5. Scoop onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and roll into smooth round balls. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10-12 minutes or until very lightly golden on the bottoms.
6. Mix the confectioners’ sugar, orange zest and enough orange juice to get a glaze consistency and mix until smooth and creamy. Pour glaze over the tops of the cookies and let set.

   

Barcelona, Spain 2012

My next stop after Schaffhausen was for a series of meetings in Barcelona.  I'd gone there last year for the same type of meetings but this time, the schedule worked out so that I was actually on the ground in Barcelona a little longer than I was in the air (last year's trip was a whirlwind, literally).  The night I arrived from Switzerland, our group went out for a late dinner.  We left the hotel a little before 9 pm and came back around 12:30 am.  Talk about leisurely dining!

The restaurant, Merendero de la Mari, was close to the wharf and the weather was perfect: not too hot, not too cold, with a small breeze.  With that kind of climate, it's almost sacrilege to eat inside so of course we ate outside.  I had missed lunch since I was on a plane half the day (quick connection in Heathrow) and airlines never serve food anymore on short trips but I wasn't too hungry because when I arrived at the hotel from Barcelona airport, I was welcomed with this thoughtful presentation from our events management company - do they know me well or what?

I did refrain from scarfing down all of the cookies and actually only ate one.  And when we got to the restaurant, I opted for seafood because it was lighter and I preferred not eating a big, heavy dinner so late at night.  Plus, it's Barcelona, so of course I'm going to have seafood.

Shrimp Catalan

My entree turned out a bit lighter than I expected and I don't eat the heads of shrimp, just the shrimp itself, but it was actually the right amount because that left room for dessert.  I had "Chocolate Textures" - I had to ask the waiter to explain to me what that was since there was no description on the menu.  It turned out to be layers of chocolate mousse sandwiched between layers of solid chocolate and praline.  Good stuff.

On our last night in Barcelona, my colleagues and I went to Las Ramblas, a busy shopping and dining district of Barcelona.  And in keeping with local fare, we went to a tapas bar.  I've had tapas before but not at a tapas buffet so that was kind of fun.  They didn't have food labels on anything so you had to take your chances on what you were selecting.  I guessed wrong on a couple of items (a breaded scallop-shaped tapas was not actually a scallop but filled with something cheesy-seafoody) but for the most part, enjoyed sampling the little plates.  The restaurant charged 1.80 euros per stick (see how each tapas has a stick in it?) and as we ate and emptied the sticks, we put the used sticks in a round metal container at our table and when we were finished, our waiter counted up the sticks in front of us and prepared our bill accordingly.  Think of it as the Spanish version of dim sum but instead of stamps on your bill as you selected dim sum plates from the carts, it was sticks that tallied up your meal cost.

The tapas buffet

And lest you think all I did in Barcelona was eat, we did walk around Las Ramblas quite a bit and I took some non-food pictures.  Just don't ask me what anything is called because.....I don't know.  But I just love the impressive architecture and the energetic vibe of Barcelona, not to mention the fabulous weather while we were there.  While I don't speak Spanish, it's close enough to Tagalog that I'm familiar enough with the language to be dangerous.  And not get lost on the way to the airport since the meaning of "aeroporto" is much easier for me to guess than "flughafen", lol.